


The Adventures of Gwaine

by PopRocks42



Series: Adventures of Gwaine [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2018-01-01 11:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1044110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopRocks42/pseuds/PopRocks42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwaine wakes up to see and unexpected visitor in his room. Merlin and Athur banter. Merlin is obvious, and oblivious, along with everyone else. Gwaine is Gwaine and manages to convince everyone around him that he's crazy (er then ususal). Oh and he's in denial about hugs. Especially Lancelot hugs. </p>
<p>Morgana's up to something...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventures of Gwaine

Gwaine slept in his chambers, snoring lightly, tangled up in his sheets. It had been a hectic last few days, and he was grateful for the chance to finally get to sleep. Arthur had been running all of the knights ragged, and he was at the end of his rope. He had, had them running around in their boxers, doing training in the mud. 

Though the sight of Gwaine, shirtless in the mud was a very handsome one, and he was sure that the scullery maids were grateful for the chance to see all the knights shirtless, Gwaine himself did not have fun He slipped and fell more than all of the other knights combined. A fact that Arthur had been quick to point out. That he was clumsier than Merlin. He was not clumsier than Merlin. Clumsy? Sure. Clumsier than Merlin? No. That was not physically possible.

At least he didn't get knocked out as easily as Arthur. Sadly, when he thought that, while training, he had said it out loud. Needless to say he had to run laps, around the castle, without shoes. His person was very, very dirty after that.

Sometimes he hated the princess. 

But anyways, at the moment he was sleeping soundly in his room, dreaming of giving orders to Arthur instead of the other way around, for once. It was a nice dream. He could have continued with that dream for a good long while, if something had not woken him up. 

A whisper “Gwaine.”

Gwaine rolled over, onto his back.

The whisper came again “Gwaine.”

Gwaine snored even louder.

Someone huffed and poked him in the side “Gwaine. Gwaine, wake up.” Gwaine batted at the thing that was poking him.

SLAP!

Gwaine woke with a start, a red hand mark clearly etched out on his face and his face stinging.

“What!” Gwaine jumped in his bed, only to fall on the floor, swaddled in his blankets “What? What was that? Who's there?” he looked around, while still struggling to get out of the sheets, on the floor. “Show yourself immediately or I will be forced to hurt you!”

The other person in he room began laughing uncontrollably. If that didn't wound Gwaine's pride, nothing else would. He was a manly man. He could easily take down whoever else was in the room. Even if he was stuck in blankets. 

The other person in the room managed out through gusts of laughter “I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Now I know why Merlin always said you're funny.”

Gwaine stopped struggling, he knew that voice. “Lancelot? Is that you?”

Gwaine scanned the room with his eyes, he didn't see another being in it. There was no way Lancelot was in the room with him. He couldn't see him, and there was also the fact that Lancelot was dead. Yeah, the fact that Lancelot was dead was a big factor in him not being there, now that Gwaine thought about it.

“Hi, Gwaine. Does your face sting?”

Gwaine frowned “Like hell.”

“Sorry about that, you wouldn't wake up. Do you need help...untangling yourself?”

Gwaine shook his head “No. No way are you here right now. You're dead. Merlin told me he burned your body. You're ashes in a lake somewhere.” okay, maybe that was a bit harsh, but the truth. He hoped he hadn't offended 'Lancelot?' 's feelings.

“I am dead. I'm a ghost.” Lancelot replied, his voice soothing, like he was talking to an idiot. Gwaine bristled at that, he was not an idiot. A foolhardy, drunkard? Yes. Idiot? No. He left that to Arthur, thank you very much.

“Then why are you talking to me, instead of doing...ghost stuff?” Wow, was his brain not working? He should be attacking Lancelot, not making nice conversation with him. There was no way this ghost was actually Lancelot's ghost. He tried again “Don't you have ghost thingies to be busy doing?” What? No! He meant to say you're under arrest.

Wait. Could he arrest ghosts, fake ghosts? Was that a thing? Maybe Leon would know, he knows all of the dumb laws in Camelot.

“You can't see me, because the lights aren't on. Hold on a second.” all the candles in the room lit up, to reveal a pale and see through version of Lancelot. Lancelot rose an eyebrow, studying Gwaine, who was still wriggling around in his bed sheet prison “Are you sure you don't need any help?”

Gwaine frowned at him “I've got this. Hold on a second. While I...free myself, you tell me about how you became a ghost.”

Lancelot shrugged and sat down on Gwaine's bed “I don't know. I remember sacrificing myself, then the next thing I know I'm in your room, floating on the ceiling.”

Gwaine froze, “And, exactly how long were you in my room?”

Lancelot gave him a curious look “Not long.”

Gwaine had the decency to look a little sheepish “You didn't by any chance see me last night, did you?”

Lancelot frowned “I came in the morning.”

Gwaine relaxed. “Right. Okay. Cool. And you just stuck around on the ceiling?”

Lancelot shifted, embarrassed “I, couldn't exactly get down. I was..sort of stuck.”

Gwaine let out a snigger “You were stuck? On the ceiling?”

“Yes?”

Gwaine burst out laughing, while Lancelot watched with a screwed up expression on his face. He looked like he would have been blushing, if he had the blood to do so.

Thinking quickly he changed the topic.“Why do you want to know when I came here?”

“What? Ummm, no reason.” Gwaine replied quickly, smoothly changing the subject “You said you don't remember becoming a ghost?”

Lancelot looked like he wanted to say something, then dropped it and schooled his expression to look placid “Nothing.”

Gwaine stopped struggling to pry the sheets off and instead started to roll on the floor.

Lancelot looked on, amused “What are you-”

“Shut up.” Gwaine commanded “I'm busy. Yes! It's working!” the sheets began to unravel around him. After a few seconds of rolling around on the floor like a fish, Gwaine popped up, off the floor and ran to his cupboards.

Lancelot watched on, trying not to laugh “What are you doing?”

Gwaine whirled around on him, pulling his sword out of his cupboard and pointing it at him “Shut up, foul creature! You Lancelot imposter!”

Lancelot bit back his groan “I'm not an imposter, I'm a ghost.”

Gwaine let out a dark chuckle “A likely story. I'm taking you to the King.” he approached Lancelot and laid his sword right on Lancelot's chest. “Turn around and walk towards the Kings chambers. If you really are who you say you are, you'll know the way.”

Lancelot sighed, but conceded and started floating towards Arthur's room.

“You know-” Lancelot started.

“Quiet!” Gwaine yelled. 

Lancelot only sighed again and continued floating towards Arthur's chambers.

Gwaine smirked internally, and people thought he was just a useless drunkard. Well, that should show them. He caught a ghost...thing...something that looked like Lancelot. He caught a Lancelot imposter. No one could just pose as Lancelot and get away with it, when Gwaine was around.

Lancelot made to knock on Arthur's door, but Gwaine beat him to it, pounding on the door and yelling “Hey Princess! You awake in there? I've got a present for you!”

Lancelot frowned at him “Are you trying to wake up the entire castle?”

Gwaine grinned maniacally, already envisioning how upset the princess would be “Arthur's a deep sleeper.”

The door opened to reveal a very angry Arthur, with his hair sticking each way and wild eyes that looked ready to kill, “Gwaine.” he bit out.

“Nice to see you too, princess.” Gwaine replied, pushing his way into the chamber, Lancelot still standing out in the hall. He looked around “Where's Gwen?” he asked, noticing the empty bed, and distinct lack of Gweness in the room.

Arthur ran a hand over his face “She doesn't sleep here.”

A look of surprise crossed over Gwaine's face, “Is that a permanent thing, or just a temporary thing?”

“Gwaine.” Arthur groaned “Not now.”

“If it is because you don't perform well. If you know what I mean. Because if you need some pointers I can give you some, lots of women, and men for that matter, have told me that I'm really good. Well not so much told, as screamed my-”

“Gwaine.” Arthur groaned again, exasperation showing in his voice.

Gwaine went on “Or is it because of that whole unresolved sexual tension thing you've got going on with Merlin. Because trust me when I saw, that kind of disturbs all of us. You two really should just-”

“Gwaine!” Arthur barked.

“Right!” Gwaine jumped, sensing that, that was not the time to be himself “I brought you a present.” he motioned over to where Lancelot was standing.

Lancelot waved. 

Arthur looked over to where Lancelot was. He looked confused, then quickly turned angry and reared back on Gwaine. “You brought me an empty hallway. Thanks. I always wanted one of those.” he deadpanned.

“What?” Gwaine waved his arms in Lancelot's direction “I brought you someone pretending to be Lancelot.”

Lancelot waved again. He looked like he was greatly enjoying himself, at Gwaine's expense. It seemed that when anyone was enjoying themselves around Gwaine, it was at his expense. He would really have to look into that later.

Arthur looked exasperated “Have you been drinking again? What did we say about drinking alone?”

“What?” Gwaine spluttered “I can honestly say that I haven't drank in at least the last five, no four, hours. I brought you a fake Lancelot, you should be happy. Now you have somebody to behead for pretending to be a knight of Camelot. I know how much you like beheading people. Or was that your dad? You know, I think that might have been your dad. Anyways a thanks would be much appreciated.”

Lancelot and Arthur both leveled Gwaine with disappointed stares. It felt like he was under fire by disappointment. Not even his mother had perfected the disappointed look like the two of them.

Lancelot leaned against the doorway “He can't see me. I'm a ghost, you're the only one who can see me.”

Gwaine flailed and turned a dirty look on Lancelot “Why me? I never even talked to you! Why would you chose me to haunt?”

Lancelot shrugged “I don't know. I didn't really chose you. If I had a choice I would go for Merlin.” ouch, that hurt. “All I know is I'm a ghost and you're the only one who can see me.”

Arthur cut in “Who are you talking to?”

“Lancelot! Fake Lancelot! Lancelot's ghost! He's right there! At your doorway! Tell me you can see him!” Gwaine flailed around, looking like an idiot.

Arthur put a hand on Gwaine's forehead “Are you sure you feel okay? Do we need to have Giaus look at you? You don't feel hot.”

Gwaine pushed his hand away “Okay, first off, I'm always hot. It's natural setting for me.”  
Lancelot sniggered in the background and Gwaine turned on him “Shut up, Lancelot,” then turned back to Arthur “Secondly, I'm fine!” he turned back on Lancelot “You! You're doing this on purpose.”

“Who's doing what, on purpose?” Arthur asked, a look of true concern on is face.

And when even Arthur was openly showing concern for you, well that's when you know that there's something wrong with you. 

Gwaine went on, marching up to Lancelot “You and I are going to have a very long chat.” he said grabbing Lancelot by the arm and striding off, pulling Lancelot with him.

Arthur followed him out of the room and watched him go, “It's the ale.” he said to himself “Note to self, must make a new law about Gwaine not being allowed to drink more than one tankard of mead in a week.” he heard the remnants of a one sided argument between Gwaine and 'Lancelot' reverberating through the halls “Or maybe, one tankard of mead per month. Or never. Never works too.”

\- - - - - 

Over the course of the three days that followed word spread throughout the castle that Gwaine had finally lost it. Him officially going guano was the talk of the town. He was constantly getting looks from the women of the castle. And not the good kind of looks. 

He was talking to Lancelot's ghost, almost all the time, and all of the knights were worried about him. They even staged an intervention for him, which did not work because Gwaine spent the entire time arguing with Lancelot over whether or not he could stand on his head. He then proceeded to stand on his head for five minuted with all the others watching. They decided that more drastic measures needed to be taken.

Lancelot himself was not helping with things. He would constantly be talking to Gwaine at the most inappropriate times. Gwaine thought it might have been to just make him look stupid, but Lancelot assured him that he could do that to himself just fine. Gwaine wasn't so sure he liked seeing the joking side of Lancelot, it was an eerie, surreal experience. Granted, the way Lancelot smiled, was very pretty, bu-no. Just no. Bad Gwaine.

Each of the Knights and Arthur and Merlin had all taken Gwaine aside at times to talk to him, and nothing was helping. Then it was Elyan's turn. He told Gwaine to wait in his chambers for him, and he would go and talk to him after dinner.

So Gwaine waited in his chambers, and played chess with Lancelot, but Elyan did not appear. 

Later that night it was found that Elyan had gone missing. And that's when things started getting really weird.

\- - - - - 

Gwaine looked out his window, with Lancelot floating next to him. It was pitch black outside, being the middle of the night, but there was one light still in the woods. The light would bob and disappear occasionally as it was taken behind trees.

“I'm not going to follow him.” Gwaine insisted. Continuing on the argument that he and Lancelot were having.

Lancelot frowned. He seemed to do that a lot, when talking to Gwaine. “You have to.”

“No.” stubbornness was key, a lesson Gwaine had learned as a child. His stubbornness could get him anything he wanted.

“Yes.” sadly Lancelot was just as, if not more, stubborn than he was.

Gwaine repeated more forcefully “No.”

“Why not?”

“What Merlin gets up to in his free time in the woods is none of my business. I really do not want to know what he does on his own in the dark.”

Lancelot looked back at him with what he probably thought was a scary expression that just looked like an adorable puppy to Gwaine.

“Does on his own in the dark.” Gwaine repeated, with hand gestures to accompany it.

Lancelot's face screwed up in disgust “You're repulsive.”

“Love you too Lancey Wancey.” Gwaine ran a hand through his hair and stepped back from the window “Are you sure that I have to follow Merlin.”

“Yes.” Lancelot replied in the same talking to an idiot tone that he often took up when talking to Gwaine.

A tone that Gwaine was not really that big of a fan of. He preferred the tone he took up when he was concerned with him. The one where he sounded like he wanted nothing more than to give Gwaine a hug. Now Gwaine would not mind a hug-no. Bad.

Gwaine's don't need hugs. Gwaine's a strong creature that don't need anybody, let alone annoying holier-than-thou ghosts. And they certainly don't need hugs from those ghosts.

“Right.” Gwaine gave Lancelot a shaky grin “Dumb question. But why do you know that I need to follow Merlin?”

“I used to be Merlin's best friend.” Ouch, that hurt, right in the chest area, how many best friends did Merlin have? “I know when he's hiding something.”

“Well why don't you just do something about it, then.” Gwaine replied, more snappish than he intended.

If Lancelot noticed he did not say anything about it, and instead gave one of his 'are you an idiot' looks “I am ghost.” he said very slowly “I can't do anything, other than talk to you and make things move on their own.”

Gwaine nodded “Alright, fine. But if I get attacked by man eating bears, I'm blaming you.”

Lancelot gave him one of his sweet 'I find you amusing' smiles. The kind that always made Gwaine light up just the tiniest bit “I think you want to get attacked by man eating bears.”

Gwaine scoffed “Please. I never said that. Man eating bears are dangerous, and not fun to fight at all.” he punctuated the last sentence with a grin, and was granted with one of Lancelot's true laughs.

Yeah, that was nice. Lancelot did not laugh enough.

And with that, he set out to track down Merlin.

\- - - - - 

Gwaine slowly crept up behind Merlin, thinking that it was a great time to freak Merlin out a little. He tapped on Merlin's shoulder. Merlin whirled around, at him. 

“Boo.” Gwaine grinned.

Merlin then proceeded to panic and punch Gwaine in the nose.

Gwaine fell backwards and clutched his bleeding nose. Lancelot watched on, unamused. Really? Gwaine thought. He couldn't at least pretend to care abut his well being? So much for Lance being Mr. Perfect.

No, he took that back, Lance was perfect, please God, don't strike him down for thinking otherwise. Lanceot was perfection in human form. Stupid, perfect Lance.

Merlin rushed over to him and started frantically attending to Gwaine's face.

Gwaine laughed at him, batting his hands away “Got a mean right hook there, eh Merlin?”

Merlin gave him the Merlin frown that combined both annoyance and worry (a frown he had used very often on both him and Arthur) “Gwaine, why were you following me?”

Gwaine tipped his head back and waited for the blood flow to slow down “Lancelot told me to follow you because you might be up to some super secret Merlin thing.” he continued when he saw Merlin's blank look “You know, the super secret Merlin things you do when you sneak around, pretending to actually be good at sneaking when the rest of us know you aren't.”

Merlin turned tomato red “Lancelot told you to follow me?” his tone laced with disbelief. He had an expression that was a mix of embarrassment and true concern for Gwaine's well being.

Gwaine mentally rolled his eyes and amended “I saw you sneaking around and decided to follow you, you really aren't as discreet as you think you are.”

“Oh.” Merlin blushed even harder.

Really, people would believe anything.

So Merlin, Gwaine and Lancelot snuck around the woods for a little longer. It was only about thirty minutes into their walk that Gwaine realized that he had no idea where they were going or why.

“Hey, Merlin.”

“Yes?”

“It just occurred to me.” he paused for a moment, carrying on when he noticed Merlin's curious look, “Where exactly are we going?”

Merlin moved a branch from in front of his face “Morgana stole Elyan.”

Gwaine nodded “And...how exactly do you know that?”

Merlin looked shifty for a moment “I ..uh..have my sources.”

Gwaine nodded again, magic then, he thought to himself. It occurred to him yet again that Merlin had still not told him about his magic. (Magic that was more obvious than his infatuation with Arthur) But he let it slide.

“Okay. And why did she steal Elyan?”

“She's turned him into a slave of her's. She's controlling his mind. I don't know why she needs him with his mind being controlled, but she did it. She was having him, um, dance for her, Anyways, I had a run in with him a while back. It's like she's turned him into a really powerful, zombie.”

Gwaine stopped walking “A zombie?” he gulped.

Both Merlin and Lancelot looked back at him, curiously. Lancelot approached him and put a hand on him shoulder “What's wrong?” he asked, sincerity stripping from his voice.

God, Gwaine hated it when Lancelot spoke like that. It meant he truly cared, and Gwaine could hardly ever lie to that.

Gwaine looked back at Lancelot, honesty in his gaze “I sort of have an intense fear of zombies.”

Lancelot gripped his shoulder even tighter “You fought the skeletons.” his voice reassuring.

Gwaine smiled “Those were easy. Skeleton's are a piece of cake, there's not human flesh bits hanging off of them. And they don't smell. I hear zombie's smell awful.”

Lancelot gave him one of his amused looks “You're scared of zombie's because they smell?”

Gwaine laughed “Not just because they smell! It's the little dangly bits of flesh! Those are gross!” he shuddered “It's just unnatural.”

Lancelot moved in to give Gwaine a hug an Gwaine's mind wen into overdrive. Was he really going to get a hug? Why were his arms moving to give a hug? He didn't want a hug, dammit! He didn't need a hug! His body was betraying him, and just when they were about to hug, Merlin spoke up, ruining the movement and sending both men hurtling backwards.

“Right. Anyways, I said like a zombie, not an actual zombie. There won't be any zombies.” he continued under his breath “Most likely.”

Gwaine looked up at him “What was that?”

“What? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”

\- - - - - 

Approximately Twenty Minutes Later

Gwaine ran through the woods, balancing Elyan precariously on his back while Merlin followed him. Behind them ran a group of zombies, who were all running way to fast for people who didn't have most of their body parts. There had to have been at least a hundred of them, and Gwiane was right, they did smell.

“When I get us back,” Gwaine yelled at Merlin, ducking under a branch “I am going to kill you!”

“If you get us back,” Merlin replied, jumping over a log “I'll let you!”

“You owe me at least a hundred apples for making me come on this quest with you!”

“I didn't make you do anything, you followed me!”

“And you let me, so it's your fault!”

Merlin didn't reply, considering the fact that he was arguing with a clearly, mentally unbalanced man. Sometimes, the things Gwaine said really concerned him. But now was not the time for wondering just how deranged Gwaine was.

Morgana cackled evilly in the background, standing on top of a cliff, watching as her zombie minions attacked Gwaine and Merlin. Well there wasn't actually a cliff, or Morgana, but Gwaine liked to imagine that, that was what was happening.

This, Gwaine thought to himself, would be a great time for Merlin to use his magic. But of course he wouldn't. Time for the next best thing. Gwaine turned to Lancelot who was floating calmly next to him “Can't you do something?”

Lancelot raised an eyebrow “Yes, why don't I just go and punch out one of the zombies? Oh wait. I can't. I don't have arms.” he deadpanned.

Gwiane snorted biting back a laugh, despite himself, and nearly tripped over a twig “Can't you move things with your mind?”

Next to him, Merlin panicked “No I can't.”

“Not talking to you!” Gwaine ground out.

“I can move things with my mind.” Lancelot agreed, “What do you want me to do, move a branch in front of them so they trip?”

“Come on Lance, just knock over a bunch of trees with your mind and block off the zombies rout to us. And then...I don't know, set them on fire?”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that-” Lancelot started only to be cut off by a very panicked Gwaine.

“You know what else is dangerous, Lancey? Zombies! Zombies eating me! You don't want me to be eaten do you? Because I honestly thought our friendship has progressed to a point where you no longer want me dead. But if you still don't like me that much, fine, screw you too, Lancey.”

Lancelot huffed and then nodded at Gwaine. He stopped in place and raised his hands. He turned from his usual look into something gruesome and scary. His hair flew up in the wind that he created and his eyes turned black. He rose a hand in the direction of the zombies and snapped his fingers. Automatically all the zombies lit on fire.

Gwaine caught Merlin, who fell over in surprise at it. When he turned back to look at Lance again, he was no there. Instead he was left with an unconscious Elyan, a scared Merlin and about a hundred burning zombies. He heaved Merlin up off the ground and nearly gagged. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air, he swore he was going to be sick.

“Come on.” he said, re balancing Elyan on his back “Let's get out of here before the fires get to us.”

Merlin looked at him with wide eyes “Are you a sorcerer?”

Really? Sometimes Gwaine just had to agree with Arthur about Merlin being a little on the daft side.

“No. But Lancelot is a ghost and can therefore do ghost like things, like lighting zombies on fire. Now we really need to get out of here before the fire catches up with us.”

\- - - - - 

After Elyan was safely deposited in Gaius's room and both Gwaine and Merlin were checked for any injuries (rather extensively, some of the hand maidens could get really...well, handsy) Both Merlin and Gwaine were chucked into Arthur's room and were promptly chewed out for their 'irresponsible actions'

It was while Arthur and Merlin were doing their stupid dance where one yell at the other, calling them stupid, when in reality they just want to kiss the other, that Gwaine finally got fed up with it all.

Gwaine stood up from the chair that was sitting in and moved towards the door. 

“And where do you think you're going?” Arthur asked, crossing his arms.

“I am going to go to the tavern.” Gwaine replied, bristling “I just got attacked by zombies, had to run through the woods with Elyan on my back, who by the way, is not a light person, and lost Lancelot, who could be God knows where right now. So excuse me if I just want to get a drink and forget everything exists for a little while.”

Arthur and Merlin exchanged a glance, which normally would have made Gwaine grin, but at the moment just annoyed him.

Arthur frowned at Gwaine “You and Merlin here, nearly burned down the woods.”

“But we didn't.” Gwaine replied cheekily, plopping back down in his seat, “And technically, Lancelot did that. I encouraged him to, but I didn't do it. At most I can be called an instigator. Besides, it's either a burned down forest or an army of zombies. Which do you prefer?”

Arthur groaned and motioned for Gwaine to sit down “You can't leave yet. We need to figure out why Morgana wanted Elyan.”

Gwaine sat down and replied as snarkily as possible “Maybe she wanted someone to play tea time with.”

Both Arthur and Merlin glared at him. He held up his hands in surrender.

Merlin spoke up “I actually found something while we were getting back Elyan.” he pulled out a large book from seemingly nowhere.

“Where, did you pull that out of?” Arthur asked, snottily.

“Umm, that's not the point” Merlin said, hastily changing the subject and avoiding Arthur's smirk “The point is it was opened up to this page.” he laid the book out on the table.

On the page was a detailed drawing of a man being lifted up from a coffin by a beam of light that came from a woman's hands. It was a dead man, who was opening his eyes. One of the weirdest pictures Gwaine had seen in his life. But weird pictures are simply weird pictures. Nothing to get all worked up about. And so Gwaine lost interest and began thinking of where Lancelot may be.

“And what is that?” Arthur asked, examining the picture while Gwaine examined his nails.

“It's spell to bring the dead back to life.” Merlin replied. Gwaine's ears perked up in interest. “I think Morgana means to bring Morgause back to life, using Elyan as a replacement life for hers.”

“Then why enslave Elyan to her?” Arthur asked.

Gwaine hopped up from his chair “To make him a more willing sacrifice. That's how these things work, right? The more willing the sacrifice, the higher success rate?”

“That is abso-” Arthur began.

“No, he's actually right.” Merlin cut him off, being the only one in the kingdom allowed to.

Arthur wheeled on Gwaine “And where did you learn that from?”

Gwaine grinned “The tavern, where else?” he went on, making his way to the door “Now that I've helped you solve this mystery I'm going to get myself smashed at the tavern. Thank you and goodnight.” he said, swishing out the door.

Merlin sat down in his chair, his head in his hands and spoke to Arthur “He's going insane.”

Arthur scoffed “He wasn't already?”

“Lancelot's death hit him pretty hard.” Merlin went on, not acknowledging what Arthur had said. “I didn't even know he spoke to Lancelot. What are we going to do? It's just getting worse and worse. He claimed that Lancelot started the fire, remember. That Lancelot's ghost lit all the zombies on fire. What are we going to do?”

Arthur stared at where Gwaine had left “I have no idea.”  
\- - - - - 

It had been two days since the zombie incident and Gwaine liked to call it, and Lancelot was still nowhere to be seen. Gwaine was on edge and everyone could see it. He was worried, he wasn't sure if Lance would ever come back, and that had to be the scariest prospect in the world. Just as he was getting a real friend, granted one that had not choice to be his friend, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was worried.

Bu he was a man of action. He was not the type to just sit around and fret about their long lost lovers, not that Lancelot was his lover (he wished) ( no he didn't, shut up) In the two days he had snuck into Merlin's room and read about the spell a total of ten times. 

All he had to do was sacrifice a life at the stroke of midnight, on a full moon, while kissing the desceased. He wasn't sure what the hardest part was. It was while he was sitting on Merlin's bed, reading the spell book that Percival walked in on him.

Now Percival, he was his best mate, alongside Merlin and Lancelot of course, but Gwaine had been avoiding him as of late. This was because Percival had an uncanny ability to always know that something was wrong, and then, beyond that, be able to figure out just what was wrong.

“What are you doing?” Percival asked, snapping Gwaine out of his trance and making him jump and drop the book onto the floor.

“Don't do that.” Gwaine complained, picking the book up, “And if you have to know, I was reading.”

Percival glanced at the book “You were reading a spells book.” he replied, his tone impossibly even.

“Yes?” Gwaine tilted his head backwards and gave Percival one of his oddest stares.

“A spell book for witches.”

“Or warlocks.” Gwaine supplied helpfully.

“Or warlocks.” Percival parroted back at him. He glanced quickly at the content on the pages “And you're reading in this book of spells, for witches and warlocks, a spell about bringing the dead back to life.” Percival went on, inching closer to Gwiane, as if he was afraid he was going to lash out.

“Yes.” Gwaine nodded, looking back at the book.

Percival put a hand on Gwaine's shoulder “Are you a warlock?”

Gwaine's head snapped up. How was it everyone thought he was a warlock? There was clumsy Merlin who couldn't go a day without his eyes flashing gold, but no, obviously Gwaine was the warlock. Really people? How was this his life?

Gwaine stood up, brushing away Percival's hand “I am not a warlock.”

“You're reading a book of spells.” Percival pointed out, motioning to the book of spells that Gwaine was still clutching, “If I'm correct, only warlocks and witches read books of spells.”

“Well.” Gwaine replied, pettily “You're not correct. Because I am not a warlock and I'm reading a book of spells. So there.”

Percival gave him a once over. “So then you're witch?”

“What? No! I am male! Do you want me to prove it to you?”

“Not really, no.” Percival replied, blushing. He sighed “What are you planning, Gwaine?”

“What makes you think I'm planning something?”

Percival raised an eyebrow. Right, because Percival knows all. Stupid Percival. Gwaine plopped back down on the bed “If you must know I'm simply curious about...warlockry.”

“Warlockry?”

“It's a thing.”

“I'm sure it is.” Percival replied, complacently. “But why?”

Gwaine hung his head, then opened his mouth to speak, but Percival cut him off. “No.” he said, then again, more forcefully “No.”

“No what?” I haven't even said anything yet.” Gwaine complained.

Percival locked eyes with him and gave him one of his most stern looks “No. You are not bringing Lancelot back to life. No. Bad. Don't.”

Gwaine slipped into his charming persona “What makes you think I want to bring Lancelot back to life? I'm simply learning more about magic so it'll be easier for me to fight it, in the future. That's all.”

“How dumb do you think I am?”

“Not dumb, just hoping you would trust me is all.” Gwaine replied, laying on the charm thick “We're friends right? Friends trust each other. So trust me.”

Percival sat down next to Gwaine “Just, don't do anything stupid, alright? We all miss him.”

Whatever Gwaine was going to say in reply was cut off by the bells tolling, Someone had broken into the castle and stolen Elyan, again.

\- - - - - 

Gwaine, Arthur, Percival and Leon were all convened in a broom closet, pushed up against each other. Gwaine's shoulders were mushed between Percival and Leon's chests, and man, did it make him feel small.

Gwaine spoke up, “Why exactly are we in a broom closet, when we could all be meeting in Arthur's chambers?”

“We don't have time for your jabber, Gwaine.” Arthur snapped, “We need to get Elyan back as soon as possible, but we can't afford any of us leaving. There will be-where's Merlin?”

Gwaine looked around, and sure enough, Merlin wasn't there. Gwaine raised his hand.

“What, Gwaine?” Arthur asked, exasperated.

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

Arthur gave him an incredulous look “Are you serious?”

Gwaine shrugged as best he could, in the position he was in “I have a small bladder. I mean, if you don't want me to go in the toilet, I could always use a bucket,. Hey, Leon, pass me a bucket.”

Leon frowned “I am not giving you a bucket.”

“But I need to pee.”

“No.”

“But, Leon.” Gwaine whined.

“No.”

“Just go to the bathroom.” Arthur waved his hand.

“That's what I'm trying to do!” Gwaine insisted “But Leon won't pass me the bucket!”

“I meant in a bathroom, not in here. Go. Out. Now. Goodbye.” Arthur forcefully pushed him out of the closet.

Gwaine ended up in a pile on the floor outside of the closet, the door slamming shut behind him. He got up and dusted himself off, stuck in a closet with three (questionably) straight men, not a situation he wanted to repeat.

“You look good, for someone who's covered in spider webs.” a voice said.

Gwaine shook his head to get out any cobwebs that might have been attached to any of his luscious locks, then looked up and ginned “Lance! You're back! Where were you?” 

Gwaine got up and nearly went for a hug, but held himself back. No. No hugs. Why was he always going for a hug from Lancelot? Bro hugs were not okay, and especially not the kind of hugs he wanted from Lancelot. Lancelot, luckily, did not notice his little almost lunge towards him.

Lance grinned back at him “I was stuck in the void for a while. Doing the whole burning the zombies thing really depleted my power. Never ask me to do that again. What's going on?”

Gwaine slung his arm around Lancelot's shoulder, really just hovering his arm above where Lancelot's shoulder should be “Well it appears our dear Elyan has been captured.”

“Again? Didn't we just save him?” Lancelot asked, floating alongside as Gwaine walked.

“What can I say, he's a popular man.”

“Where's Merlin?” a stab in the gut. What was it with everyone and wanting to know where Merlin was? Shouldn't Lancelot have questions for him? Like how is day was, if he had any funny stories to tell? 

“I don't know,” Gwaine replied, “We can't find him.”

Lancelot nodded “Wherever Merlin is, is where the action is. If you find him, you find Elyan.”

Gwaine assented, that made sense. Merlin seemed to be a magnet for bad things, probably a side affect of his magic. “I which case,” Gwaine grinned “I think I might know where he is.”

\- - - - - 

Gwaine and Lancelot hid behind a bush, watching Merlin who was also hiding behind a bush who was watching Morgana who had Elyan, bound by ropes, attached to a chair. Gwaine idly thought that it was s sort of funny how everyone was sneak watching everybody else, which he would have told to Lancelot, if he thought Lancelot would actually care. Morgan's little henchman-man bustled around, setting things up to be in position for when midnight hit.

“What are you doing?” Percival asked, form behind Gwaine, nearly making him shoot up in the air.

Gwaine waited for his heart rate to slow down “Don't do that. Why do you always do that?” he whispered, sharply.

“What are you doing?” Percival repeated, ignoring his question.

“Lancey and I are staking out Merlin who is staking out Morgana.” Gwaine replied sharply “Now shush. I need to come up with a plan.”

“A little late for that.” Percival replied.

“Why's that?”

Both Lancelot and Percival at the same time “Because Merlin's already attacked.”

Gwaine whipped around his head to see that, Merlin had in fact, taken on Morgana on his own. Was he stupid or something? Oh wait, he was. Right. Merlin was currently being suspended in the air by Morgana, who looked like she had just won the lottery. It looked like Merlin had no idea what to do and was just sort of thrashing around in the air.

Well, there was really only one thing to do then.

Gwaine burst out from behind the bushes, swinging his sword and went straight for the henchman. It was fights like this that Gwaine lived for. That and good apples, the green kind, not the red ones, they reminded him of snow white. He really hated that story.

But the point was, Gwaine was attacking the hunchbacked henchman of Morgana's. He was hunchbacked, but still taller than Gwaine. Seriously, was everyone taller than him?

The hunchbacked man swung at Gwaine, hitting him over the head and sending him flying backwards. He got stopped in the air by Lancelot, who was hovering right behind him. Lancelot then safely deposited him on the ground. Gwaine gave him a quick grin and then turned back to the hunchbacked man. The henchman watched on, horrified.

“You're warlock too.” He said, walking backwards in fear.

Was he afraid of magic or something? Really? Were henchman, men even allowed to be scared of anything? Why would he be working for Morgana if he was afraid of magic?

Gwaine nearly corrected him, but then thought better of it and nodded, bringing himself up to his full height “Correct. I am the great warlock..Gregory.” Gregory? Really? That was his warlock name?

Lancelot laughed in the background.

Right, definitely not Gregory. He tried again “I mean, the great warlock, Gregoris.” Yeah, okay, that sounded better. Not great, but better. Well, it's not his fault that not everyone could have a cool warlock name like Emrys. 

The hunchbacked man looked at him distrustfully “I have not heard of this, Gregoris.” 

Gwaine was about to speak to him, and did not notice Morgana creeping up behind him. He didn't hear Lancelot's shout until it was too late. Morgana held a dagger up to his back and caught him in a choke hold. A sly smile crossed her face, as the others looked on in horror.

“That's because he doesn't exist.” Morgana replied, holding Gwaine to her, she turned to Merlin and Percival, “Now put down your weapons, boys, or I'll kill your precious little eye candy.”

No, he was not the eye candy. The eye candy was Lancelot, and Percival. He was the funny one. The good looking, funny one, but still the funny one.

“Shut up, Gwaine.” Morgana commanded. 

Oh, he didn't know he said that out loud.

“Morgsy.” Gwaine started, “It doesn't have to be like this. Just surrender, and we won't go too hard on you.”

“You're not in the position to be bargaining” Morgana sneered, then turned to her henchman, “Grab the knife, there's not much time left. Sacrifice him when I say to, not a moment before.”

“Let go of him, Morgana.” Merlin commanded while Percival set down his sword slowly.

“ I don't feel the need to.” she replied, holding the knife closer to Gwaine's back.

“Ouch. I get that you're evil and all, but that hurts. Seriously, ow.”

Morgana dug the blade even deeper into his back, drawing blood. Yup, he really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut. 

Percival saw the action, an bristled. Through his blurry vision, no his vision was not blurry due to tears, they were blurry because...because. Through his blurry vision Gwaine saw this. He could tell that Percival was about to attack, so at the moment Percival lunged at Morgana he stepped on her foot and sidestepped away. And right into Lancelot.

Lancelot checked over Gwaine, running his hands all over Gwaine's back, looking for injuries. His hands were cold and airy, and Lancelot could not really do anything even if Gwaine was truly hurt, but that didn't stop him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Never better.” Gwaine replied “This stuff happens to me all the time.” he then turned back to the fight and saw Percival fighting with Morgana while Merlin took on the hunchback man with his bare hands. Merlin was losing, but he had not been knocked out yet, so Gwaine had to say that he was proud of him. Who knew he could actually do stuff without his magic.

Percival landed a punch on Morgana's face and she reeled backwards, clutching her nose. She stretched out a hand and with her powers lifted Percival up into the air. “You.” she said menacingly “Are a very annoying Knight.” she looked up at the sky “Now, henchman!”

She called her henchmen, henchmen? She really didn't bother to learn their names? No, bad Gwaine. Not the time to be thinking about that. Now was the time to be working on the hard part of the plan.

“Now?” Gwaine smirked “Well in that case, Merlin, catch!” he yelled the last part, picking up a sword and tossing it to Merlin.

Merlin caught it and turned to the henchman. Well, it was now or never. Gwaine turned back to Lancelot and lunged at him with his lips. Their lips connected at the same time that Merlin stabbed the henchman, killing him. Not great circumstances for a first kiss, but Gwaine was not complaining.

Lancelot's lips were airy and cold. It sent a shiver down Gwiane's spine, but he went on kissing him, not being sure as to just how long he was supposed to kiss Lancelot, or as to how a kiss with a ghost worked. He was so concentrated on the kiss that he didn't even notice when Lancelot's form became solid and the kiss stopped. He did, however notice when Lancelot fell to the ground, unconscious.

Gwaine looked down at Lancelot then back up at Percival and Merlin who were staring at him with bugged out eyes. 

“What?” Merlin spluttered “What was that?”

“A kiss Merlin, surely you've had those before.”

Merlin spluttered even harder and pointed at Lancelot's body “Is that Lancelot?”

Gwaine nodded, then bent down to Lancelot and checked his pulse “Yes. And don't worry, he's just unconscious, probably a side effect of coming back to the land of the living.” he looked up at Merlin and grinned “See, I told you Lance was haunting me. You should have believed me.”

Merlin just gaped in response.

Finally Percival spoke p “While I'm glad Lancelot is back and all, we seem to have lost Morgana.”

All three looked around, and sure enough, Morgana was nowhere to be seen.

“Right. We should get going and take Lancey back to the castle for medical help.” Gwaine replied and stood up, only to sway a bit and fall back against a tree for support “Or I'll just take a nap. Yeah, a nap sounds good.” he then promptly passed out.

\- - - - - 

When Gwaine woke up he was lying on a cot in Gaius's chamber and was being attending to by the physician himself.

He started to lift himself off of the bed, but was pushed back down by Gaius.

“Don't move, you still need rest.” he said, in his most Gaius like tone. The one that clearly communicated that he knew best, and everyone else around him was an idiot.

“No, I need to check up Lance. Is he alive?” Gwaine replied, pushing Gaius's hand away and standing, and then falling to the ground with a thump.

“He's fine.” Gaius replied, helping Gwaine back up, into the bed “He's just sleeping right now. He's going to need a few days to recover and get used to being a live again. As do you, when you brought him back, with that spell” he said, accentuating the spell part with his Gaius eyebrows “You gave him some of your life force to feed off of.”

Gwaine stopped him with a wave of his hand “Wait. So you're telling me that our lives our connected?”

“More or less, yes. If you die-”

“He dies.” Gwaine finished off. Gaius nodded back at him.

Gwaine fell backwards onto his pillow “Woah.” That meant no more bar brawls and putting himself into unnecessary danger, not there was someone else who would pay for it if he died. 

In a dark part of his mind he rejoiced. It made sure that at least on person would care about whether or not he lived or died. He quickly squashed down that part of his brain, thoughts like that were cruel. He shouldn't be happy that someone cared about whether or not he would die, if it meant they would die as well. Especially if it was Lancelot. Lancelot didn't deserve to be irrevocably connected to Gwaine and his stupidity.

His rambling thoughts were cut off by Arthur bursting into his room, being closely followed by Merlin.

“He needs to rest, Arthur!” Merlin tried to reason with him.

Arthur rounded on Merlin and poked him in the chest “You need to be quiet. This is the second time in a week that you have put yourself into unnecessary danger without telling me. I don't want to hear you speaking, right now. I ought to have put all of you in the stocks for what you've done.”

“Princess, how nice of you to visit little old me. Did you bring flowers? Flowers would really liven up the place a bit.” Gwaine piped up, from his bed, not wishing to witness a lovers spat. Gaius seemed to have the same idea and swiftly exited the room.

“Gwaine.” Arthur growled.

“Arthur.” Gwaine waved.

“What the hell were you thinking!” Arthur exploded.

“Now you see, that's just the thing princess. I wasn't thinking. I don't do that much. It bogs me down, makes my actions all slow. I just kind of do stuff when it comes to mind.”

“Gwaine.” Merlin began, trying to placate between the two.

“Shut up, Merlin!” Arthur yelled “Both of you are in such big trouble. Do you have any idea what you've done?”

Gwaine raised his hand.

“Shut up, Gwaine. I don't want to hear it.”

“But you just-”

“No.”

“Bu-”

“No. Be quiet. While you two were off prancing around in the woods and dragging Percival along with you, I was busy wondering WHERE THE HELL YOU WERE!”

“Well I don't know about Merlin but I was out there fighting Morgana and bringing Lance back to life. You never did thank me for that, by the way.”

“Thank you?” Arthur seethed.

“Yeah. Thank me, you know for figuring out how to bring Lance back to life and then doing it. I think you owe me an apology for the whole not believing me about Lancelot being a ghost thing as well.”

“I should thank you for sneaking out alone to go and taking on Morgana with barely any chance of actually winning the fight and increasing the odds of Elyan dying?”

“Ummm...yes?” Gwaine replied.

“Gwaine.” Arthur's hand twitched “Sometimes I just want to kill you.”

“That's a perfectly natural reaction to being around me for extended periods of time.” Gwaine nodded “I feel like killing me to at times. I can be really annoying.”

Merlin cut in, giving Gwaine a pitying look “Arthur he's tired and probably delusional, can't we do this later?”

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and turned back to Merlin, his shoulders relaxing “You're right. But he's in the right state of mind to hear your punishments. Both of you are to report to the stocks for the next three days, all day long. No, shut up, both of you. I don't want to hear it. Normally the punishment would be greater, but you did bring Lancelot and Elyan back, alive, so I'll go easy on you for today.” and with that he left the room.

Gwaine looked questioningly up at Merlin “That's him going easy on us?”

Merlin smiled and made to leave “I'm just going to leave you to your bed rest for now.” he said disappearing. 

Gwaine settled into his sheets and got ready for a long and boring evening. And Merlin appeared back at the door .

“Oh and by the way, Lancelot says that from all the stories he's heard he thought your kiss would be a little better than it was.” 

Oh no, Gwaine was a great kisser. It wasn't his fault he didn't know how to properly kiss a ghost. He would show him, as son as he was able to get out of bed properly. And maybe he would get a hug from Lancelot at the same time. No. Bad. No hugs. Why did he want a hug so badly?


End file.
